An activist group is urging politicians to give young people the legal right to live where they grow up.
The call has come from a group called Community Land Scotland and has been described as “a good idea” by the deputy chief executive of Generation Rent, tweeting in a personal capacity.
Community Land Scotland says young people are in danger of being “cleared” from their communities and suggests the problem is often most acute in rural areas where a lack of affordable housing, transportation and economic issues are decimating communities and pushes many young people to move away to find a home.
The group wants politicians to establish a right for young people to live in the community where they grew up.
A spokesperson for the group says: “Our members are very clear that they want to see people – particularly young people – have a ‘Right to Live’ in their communities. Many of the places where our members are based have plenty of jobs – and young people who want to stay and contribute – but there is nowhere affordable for them to live.
“This is decimating communities and leaving young people with little choice but to move away.”
“A Right to Live would mean that the Scottish Government would have to take a more strategic and creative approach to policy and legislation to ensuring that young people could stay in communities.”
The group wants this new right to be backed up by a National Community Wealth Fund to bankroll community housing projects.
Generation Rent’s Dan Wilson Craw tweeted from his personal X account that this was “a good idea – would give supporters of new homes a new way to fight NIMBYs.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today